Preserving summer's garden bounty for cold days ahead

Drying herbs at summers end allows you to enjoy them through fall and winter. (Stock imageTMS)

Some years, it seems that the nicest weather arrives in late summer and early fall. Warm days are followed by cool nights, and humidity levels drop into comfortable ranges. In the garden, plants are enjoying the change, too. You may have noticed that your vegetable garden begins growing in earnest as evening temperatures drop.

Most of us have the same problem at the end of the garden season: What do we do with bumper crops of produce that arrive all at once? One solution is to drop off bags of tomatoes and piles of peppers on your neighbors doorstep, but another is to preserve the bounty of your garden for the cold days and months ahead.

Preserving your favorite garden vegetables need not be overly complicated. Here are a few simple ideas that will extend the bounty of your garden long after summer fades.

Roasted peppers have a wonderful, rich flavor that belies how easy they are to make. After roasting they can be frozen, making them easy to store -- the perfect solution to excess peppers in the garden.

Here's how to roast them: Over the flame on your grill or under your stove's broiler blacken the skin of ripe peppers on all sides. Let the peppers cool in a paper bag. Once they are cool, transfer them into a resealable plastic freezer bag and freeze them until you are ready to use them. Once the peppers have thawed, their skins will slip right off.

If you wish to use the peppers right away, drop them into a paper bag after roasting until they are cool. Scrape off the blackened skin and enjoy.

Almost everyone enjoys the fresh, aromatic taste of basil. The next best thing to eating the herb fresh from picking is to preserve it in homemade pesto. However, the garlic, nuts, and cheese in pesto do not freeze particularly well. What to do? Simply chop the basil, add some olive oil and put it in a resealable freezer bag. Press it flat and pop it in the freezer. When you wish to use it, either in soups or to make fresh pesto, simply break off a chunk and thaw it.

Parsley can be stored the same way.

The flavor of fresh herbs adds incomparable flavor to almost any recipe. Drying fresh herbs from the garden couldn't be easier and is the next best thing to using them straight from the garden.

Water your herb plants the day before you harvest. If you are collecting from perennial plants, be sure to harvest about two months prior to frost, so the plant has time to grow back before winter arrives. Cut back perennial plants like rosemary, oregano and sage by no more than two-thirds to ensure the plant has enough mass to re-grow. Herbs can be either bundled into small bunches with twine and hung, or spread out loose in single layers. Place the cut stems or leaves onto an old window screen set up between two sawhorses in a warm, dry place but out of direct sun. Make sure the herbs are completely dry and will crumble when crushed, a process that will take several days. Try to keep most of the leaves intact to preserve the essential oils held inside. These oils are what impart the plant's flavor. Once the herbs are dry, store them whole in airtight jars until you are ready to use them, crumbling leaves right into food as you cook.

While you may lament the passing of summer, a little extra effort means you can enjoy its bounty for months to come.